2-4-07 and 2-5-07
Out of the darkness of 5 am came the blaring noise of a car
horn beeping and Pastor Samuel shouting, “Amigos!” Some of the racer’s thought it was a crazy
person was just trying to be funny. As
soon as I heard the sound I thought of training camp when we were wakened up at
five and told to get on a bus. Sure
enough the reason Samuel was waking us up was to give us our clues for the
race. We were to begin racing to a new
location, Antigua, and we were to start right away. The first portion of the race included
jumping into the freezing cold river up to our necks. It actually felt good to get cleaned off a
little bit. Then we rushed to pack up
our stuff, including our nasty wet and muddy tents. There was a little bit of confusion in
getting vans and we ended up going with a different team then we had
planned. We joined up with Team Zeo and
were last to pack up and leave on the van.
We were behind one team by an hour and a half and the rest by fifteen to
thirty minutes.
Our driver made up time by yanking the car around the
horseshoe curves and flying over the countless speed bumps. The bumpy road wound around the mountains,
over the mountains, and through the valleys.
I loved riding on the peaks and looking out over mountains and more
mountains layered with fog. In the
valleys the massive mountains rose up beside us. The vegetation grew less lush and lost the
deep green color as we continued due to the drier climate. The drivers speed and sharp turns were a
little too much… one of our bags flew of the top when we made a turn and then
one of the girls lost her breakfast. Both recovered. During the drive we passed two vans of racers;
we were ecstatic to be back in the race.
After about seven hours of traveling we came to the
Guatemala/Mexico border. The rest of the
teams were there so we had made up a ton of time. We got our passports stamped and said goodbye
to our driver and picked up our bags. In
the heat with half my body weight on my back we walked across the border to
find a ride the rest of the way to Antigua.
On the other side we almost jumped on a colorful bus that would take us
to Antigua, but decided to go with a van instead. Our bags stacked up about 6 feet tall on top
of the van and the tires were almost touching the frame. The driver agreed with us that it would not
be safe so he sent for a different car.
We unloaded and reloaded then climbed in. Once again we were behind two of the teams
anywhere from 15-45 minutes.
Part of the race included getting the testimony and picture
of someone along the race. I started
interviewing our driver Francisco. He is
my age, is married with two kids ages 2 and 5.
He grew up going to church but only goes every once in a while. When he goes to church he takes his kids with
him. After learning his story I started
to tell him about the race. He told me
that the day before he had taken a group of eight to Antigua. It turned out that the group he was talking
about was the Media team. He knew
exactly where the Coffee House was that we were to go to. We were thanking God for providing the
perfect driver. The drive through
Guatemala was just as curvy, but there were not as many speed bumps. The mountains seem to jut up into the sky
with pointy peaks. We passed men and
women with the colorful traditional dress carrying bags on their head and kids
on their backs. Five hours later in
darkness we pulled up to the coffee house in Antigua. We came in second place only about 30 minutes
behind the team that started out an hour and a half ahead of us. The other two teams were not very close
behind. One had taken a bus that made
many stops and the others had slow drivers.
The media team greeted us then told us the race would
continue in the morning. I was a little
bummed because the lead we had would be gone in the morning. We dropped our stuff off in a church that was
big enough to house all 50 of us and we were even able to set up our tents to
dry them out. We do not have a shower,
but we will be able to stay here for the next 3 nights and there is a roof over
our heads. After setting up in the
church we headed out to find a restaurant or hotel showing the Super Bowl. The city is so beautiful with grand
architecture and colorful buildings. I
have never been to Europe, but I think Antigua is similar to a European
city. We came upon a restaurant that was
packed full of Americans cheering on the game so we watched from the third
quarter on. I felt a little homesick,
because I knew that Crossroads youth group would be cheering on the game together.
This morning bright and early at 7:00 the race began. We were to hike to the top of a hill called,
Cerra de la Cruz. At the top we were to
pray for an hour than race back down to a fountain in El Parque Central. Our team had received shady directions from a
few locals on where the park was so we made the bad decision of following the
other teams. One of the teams has a
racer that spent a year living in Antigua so she knows it very well. We ran after her team. They were smart and ran a few blocks in the
wrong direction then hopped in a taxi.
We quickly got directions then took off running through the cobblestone
streets, because technically the directions said to hike to Cerra de la
Cruz. After running for about 10 minutes
we came to about a quarter mile of curving ascending stairs. At the top of the stairs was the most amazing
view of the city with a volcano in the background. All of the other A Squad teams had taken a
taxi so they were already there. We
spent the hour praying for Antigua and the month ahead of us. We were the last team to leave the top so we
decided to run to the fountain instead of spending money on a taxi. Upon arriving at the fountain we were greeted
by the racers and some curious tourists.
Even though we came in dead last I still enjoyed this race and the
beautiful views along the way.
After the race we spent an hour standing in line to get cash
at a bank. Some major banks have shut
down in Guatemala and there is a money shortage. Our team still does not have a pin for our
debit card, but we did have some leftover US cash. Please pray that we get our pin soon.
Overall I would have to say that I really enjoyed this leg
of the race. It was actually fun for me;
I enjoyed the surprises and unknowns. If
you have been following my blogs you know that the last race was a little
stressful for me. So, thank you for your
prayers. I definitely felt the peace of
God as we race and I feel that he provided drivers for us, safety for our team,
and communication with people along the way.
I also was not as stressed out
because Brienna is helping with
finances.
View from Cerra de la Cruz
Our Temporary Home
Parque Central
